Even accountants avoid Revenue website
Despite a massive campaign to get taxpayers filing their self-assessment returns online, the vast majority of accountants are not choosing to 'go on, go on, go online'.
A survey conducted by the ACCA found that just 5% of nearly 200 accountants were using the service, famously promoted by Father Ted tea lady Mrs Doyle.
Of the small number who did file electronically, some thought the service was good, but others said it was not user friendly and too time consuming.
The ACCA’s self-assessment survey 2002 showed that 98% of those surveyed had experienced systems problems at the hands of the Revenue, resulting in more time being spent on clients’ tax returns, and extra costs incurred.
The Revenue self-assessment site has not had much luck lately. The site, which has an estimated 75,000 users went offline for nearly a month in June, after a security breach allowed confidential user details to be viewed by others using the system.
The problem was only solved at the end of last month, dealing a harsh blow to the government’s plans to get all services online by 2005.